IPL 2025, RCB vs GT: Happy homecoming for Mohammed Siraj at Chinnaswamy stadium as he takes 3 wickets

Mohammed Siraj taking wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and doing the latest version of his trademark celebration had been a familiar sight. Nowadays, Siraj points both fingers at his chest and down at the ground, does a bit of a twirl with his hand, and the spins around while crossing his hands to bring them back down beside him. He’s telling everyone that “I’m standing here”, while adding a bit of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The only thing was, this time Siraj was doing itagainst Royal Challengers Bangalore, and not for them. Siraj played for RCB with distinction from 2018 to 2024, but in the IPL 2025 mega auction, he was bought by Gujarat Titans for a hefty INR 12.25 crore. Every bit of that money would have seemed well-spent when watching him take 3 for 19 in four high-quality overs against his old franchise. In his first match back at his old home ground, Siraj walked away with the Player of the Match award, and consigned RCB to their first defeat of IPL 2025. It was a happy homecoming for Siraj, not so much for RCB.

Emotion and nerves

“I was a bit emotional because for seven years I’ve played here, in the red jersey,” Siraj said after the game, adding “Now with a different coloured jersey, there was a bit of nervousness and a bit of emotion too. But as soon as I had the ball in my hand, it was full-onjosh.”

The energy, passion and most importantly skill of Siraj was on show as he derailed RCB’s powerplay with the wickets of Devdutt Padikkal and Phil Salt, and RCB found themselves in a hole. They dug their way out of it somewhat, with Liam Livingstone leading the way. But Siraj had the last laugh there too, snaring Livingstone in the 19th over to keep RCB to 169 for 8. The Titans chased that down easily, in 17.5 overs, but while the batters also performed superbly, the foundation was laid by Siraj.

Time out from the game used well

Siraj found himself out of India’s Champions Trophy side, and that perhaps was a blessing in disguise, because it gave him the breathing room to sit back and work on his bowling. He has always been a rhythm bowler, but when you’re playing day in and day out across all three formats, the natural stresses and fatigues of an unforgiving schedule can fray the best of them.

Siraj used his time away fruitfully. “I was consistently playing matches, so I wasn’t realising the mistakes I was making. Now I got a break, so I focussed on my fitness and my bowling,” he said.

He added, “Mentally too, it was good to work on my fitness. After joining GT, I’ve been speaking to Ashubhai(Ashish Nehra, the GT coach) too. It’s coming out very nicely from my hand and my confidence is also high. The first thing Ashubhaitold me was, ‘Do whatever you want to do. Go and enjoy yourself.’ There can’t be a bigger confidence-booster than this.”

The bittersweet reckoning for RCB

That Siraj still holds a fond place in the hearts of RCB fans, and indeed his past teammates and coaches, was evident in the warmth that he was greeted with in Bengaluru.

RCB coach Andy Flower said after the match that he only wished the greatest success for Siraj, but reiterated that despite the defeat, RCB had faith in the squad picked for the auction.

“Siraj bowled very well didn’t he? It’s great for Siraj to come here and do that,” Flower said. “I thought he bowled an outstanding spell there with the new ball. His lines were really tight, his lengths were good, and he threatened the stumps a lot, so good on him. I think, we all rate Siraj very highly of course. And we love Siraj. I think we had a good auction and I think we’ve got a good squad together. I wish Siraj all the success in the world, and I think we’re happy with the squad that we’ve got.”

As for Siraj himself, he had shown his old franchise and his old fans – as well as his new franchise and its fans – that he was well and truly standing his ground, wherever that ground may be.